AN: Nudity in the chapter. Get your minds out of the gutter, it's not that kind of fanfic.

Chapter 15 The Beginning Of The End Of The Beginning.

Though it had taken weeks, messenger hawks from all across the Occupied Earth Kingdom had reached Caldera, bearing reports of the many uprisings, offensives, and riots that had taken place during the Day of Black Sun… And Lord Ozai was furious… For the losses accrued, and in preparation for the arrival of Sozin's Comet, there would be reprisal…

In the mid morning after the fiasco revolving around The Boiling Rock, the gang had begun making preparations for the inevitability of Kozato's arrival. It was a matter of when, not if, he would show up, so as far as everyone was concerned, this would be the last day they could afford to spend at the Western Air Temple, and planned to leave the following day.

While Azula and Sokka had gone through and stripped everything they thought would be useful from the airship, being mostly it's armory, cleaning supplies, food stocks, and wardrobe items, Connor was busy completing his morning routine. Shaving the thin layer of stubble that he'd grown overnight, the young American born transplant looked himself over in the mirror reflection of a water fountain one last time, noticing his hair was getting too long. Truthfully it was always "getting too long," as he could never seem to find a barber willing to cut his hair in the Fire Nation, but after his defection it had reached the point where it was past his eyes if he didn't wet it back. Sighing, Connor finished up with his shave, before getting up to begin training. Only this morning, he would be training other people.

The Kyoshi Warriors, Hakoda, Teo, The Duke, Smellerbee, and Zuko had gathered on the far northern end of the temple grounds, where they could practice undisturbed. Each of them, as requested by Connor once he was asked to get everyone up to speed on musket drills, had a gun with them, though not all of them were the same make or model. A crate filled with the necessary things to make the guns an effective weapon, being caps, flint, shot, paper wadding, powder, and even a few socket bayonets, sat beside Zuko.

The Kyoshi warriors, including Suki, all had the Fire Nation's first generation of flintlock muskets, the "type 99," that they'd taken from The Boiling Rock during their escape. Hakoda, had with him what looked like the cut down flintlock that would have belonged to his son, the barrel marked "M1777" making it one of the origina's Connor had sold to the Fire Nation. Both Teo and The Duke had caplock pistols with them, while, Smellerbee, and Zuko both had caplock carbines pilfered from the airship's armory.

His work cut out for him, Connor approached the group, and greeted them all as he dropped his bag. "Morning all." He said with a small wave.

"Good morning, Sifu Connor." Zuko said, with a small bow.

"Oh, please don't do that, I'm not anybody special." Connor said, waving off Zuko's formal greeting. "I'm here because you all want to know how to shoot, and I can teach. Plain and simple… So, who here has actually ever shot a gun before?" Connor was given blank looks, before Hakoda held a hand halfway up.

"Alright, that make's my job so much more difficult…" Connor mused.

Sokka rubbed his eye with the back of his hand, as he looked over the manifest he'd made when the airship was inventoried. He cross referenced it with the list of supplies they'd already had on hand before the theft of the dirigible, and came to a swift conclusion, announcing for everyone within earshot to hear. "Alright, it's official, we're about two days away from running out of food."

"What?" Aang asked, as he looked away from his game of "punt the rock," with Toph.

"I thought we were supposed to still have a week's worth?" Toph asked, kicking the fist sized rock towards Aang when he wasn't looking.

The young Avatar caught the flying projectile behind his back thanks to his developing seismic sense. "Why the sudden shortage?"

Sokka looked over the manifest one more time, before facing Aang. "I made our original ration chart when we first got here, I wasn't considering Zuko, Azula, and especially not Connor. Then we got eight new people after the prison break."

"But we just got an airship filled with stuff." Toph said, with a raised eyebrow.

Sokka sighed. "Yeah, but I have no idea how long sea biscuits and dry fish is going to last us. We could be traveling for a whole week before making another permanent stop." Aang stuck his tongue out in disgust at the thought of having to eat a sea biscuit again. "South Chuli is right across the north west passage, Appa can probably get me there in an hour or two. I'll grab some bulk non-perishables, and we can make it back before dinner."

"I'll come too. Appa's going to need some cloud cover." Aang said, as he slipped his shoes on over his feet, and sprung up onto Appa's saddle, (situated some thirty feet away,) with an air assisted jump.

"Hold on, we're going to need money… I'll be back." Sokka said, as he walked off, intent to play the part of tax collector for the next five minutes.

After pulling out the few silver pieces that were found aboard the airship's cabins, Sokka bounced around, getting what copper coins everyone else could scrounge up, before finding His Father, Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors, Teo, The Duke, Smellerbee, as well as Connor and Zuko on the north end of the temple. All of them were firing guns at a stone dummy roughly created in the shape of a person, left on the other side of the temple's north pavilion. "Hey everyone." Sokka said, once there was a break in the gunfire, catching the group's attention. "I'm making a food run, and I'm gonna need money. Does anyone have something they can pitch in?"

"Sorry, Sokka, but we weren't exactly making a livable wage in prison." Suki said.

"Right… I was kinda asking everyone else. The Duke? Teo? Bee?" Smellerbee dug into her pants pocket and flipped two copper fire nation coins to Sokka, who caught them in mid air. "Zuko, Connor?"

Zuko patted himself down, having forgotten to bring any coins with him before escaping Caldera. Connor on the other hand gave a short laugh. "How much do you want?" He asked, going over to his bag.

"How much do you have?" Sokka asked, before Connor tossed an entire coin pouch at the young tribesman. Sokka caught the coin bag, and noticed that it was heavier than he expected it to be. Opening the drawstring pouch, Sokka went wide eyed. "That's a lotta gold."

Connor smirked as he closed his pack up. "Fifty Ban, and I've got two more sacks of it."

"Where'd you get all that?" The Duke asked.

Connor shrugged. "The Fire Lord paid me three ban per musket I sold off my ship when I first met him. Total sum came out to about four thousand and some in gold, before the price of the cannon, and the silver paid for all the shot, wadding, and powder I sold too. The hundred and fifty is just what I had in my house the day before I left with Azula and Zuki boy here."

"Wow… Thanks, Connor. I really don't know what to say." Sokka said, as he tied the pouch to his belt.

"Think nothing of it." The redhead said with a hand held up. "If it's going towards feeding everyone, I'm more than happy to pay."

His funds collected, Sokka made his way back to where Aang and Appa were waiting for him, before mounting the bison's saddle. "Wow, that was fast." Aang commented, as he stepped towards Appa's neck.

"Yeah, well, it turns out Connor's a philanthropist." Sokka said, before Aang whipped Appa's reigns.

As the two friends on bisonback approached the coast of the occupied North West Earth Kingdom, Aang threw on a red robe and conical hat to help hide his tattoos, while Sokka dawned the light brown sleeveless button up shirt he'd kept from their first day spent hiding in the Fire Nation. Just as land was visible on the horizon, Aang pulled moisture from the nearby cloud, creating a visual screen to mask Appa's approach. Flying in low with their cloud cover, Appa landed in the hilly woods north of the port town of South Chuli, where the two disembarked.

From the vantage point overlooking the town, Sokka made several observations through a spyglass. The town was fairly large, and spanned the coast it sat on top of, however it, like many cities, states, principalities and provinces within the Earth Kingdom, was occupied by the Fire Nation. On the town's southern limits was a fortress made of metal, a lighthouse seated in it's center, and along the docks attached to it was a small fleet of Fire Navy ships, indicating that the Fire Nation had been there for a while. Sokka could identify five ships of different sizes with the all too familiar shape of Fire Nation cruisers, but there were two that looked new. Surmising that the fortress had to have been a jumping point for Fire Navy ships heading north to fight the Water Tribe in the arctic sea, Sokka put away his spyglass, then turned to face Aang. "I think we should be safe, so long as we keep our distance from the south side of town, and make this quick."

"Alright, then let's get moving." Aang said, leaving his staff with Appa, before he and Sokka took off on foot down the hill.

An hour past noon, Azula had gathered a change of socks, a new fundoshi, pieces of Kozato's company uniforms that fit her, (all taken from the airship,) a comb, and what few personal grooming appliances she possessed from her and Connor's shared room, then made her way to the temple's bath. As the Western Air Temple was formerly occupied by only Air Nomad women, it had only one communal bath, located closer to the surface in one of the southern buildings. Privacy concerns of course were raised by those not used to an open bathing culture, and as a half measure, Smellerbee and Haru (the two least used to the concept) had suggested that the gentleman bathe before noon, and the ladies after it, as a way to avoid any undue embarrassment from the opposite sex at least.

Stepping through the archway to the bathroom itself, Azula paused upon the realization that she was not the only one there. Katara, and Suki seated to the tribal girl's right, were in the water filled stone basin carved into the floor, their backs to the entry arch. They looked to have been talking to each other quietly at an arm's length, before they took notice of Azula. She came to the swift conclusion that Connor's musket training must have taken less time than she thought it would, hence Suki's presence, as for Katara, there was what looked like a pile of laundry just behind her, making her bath double as a chore.

Suki was the first to speak. "Oh. Hello Azula."

"Suki…" Azula responded, as she walked along the edge of the bath, setting her belongings to Katara's left. "Katara… Is the water warm?" She asked. The bath was fed from a port in the wall, and flowed out of the room via a trench, falling over the temple's cliffside, the water being replaced at the same rate it was drained. It was possible Zuko might have passed through before noon, and the water might still have been warm. Occupied with the thought, she slipped her boots and stockings free from her feet.

"It's spring water, so no." Katara said, seeing Azula continue to remove her maroon sleeveless outer dress, then her red inner blouse. Katara was somewhat surprised to see what looked like a scar on the left side of Azula's abdomen. A circle, with a line going through it horizontally.

"Well, I'm sure that I won't have a problem getting us some hot water." Azula said, before removing her pants. Casting a glance at the two lowborns, Azula shrugged, starting to undo her hair tie, the sarashi from around her breasts, (which Connor was adamant about her discontinuing the use of, as he claimed it was unhealthy and would deform them) then her fundoshi from around her waist.

Stepping gingerly into the cold water, Azula shivered as she lowered herself down to sit on the bottom, before putting her hand above her fist as if she were bowing. Exhaling through her nose, heat briefly surging through her, the cold spring water bubbled momentarily as if it had been boiled, before steam began to rise from the surface. Finding the bath's temperature to now be soothingly hot, Azula closed her eyes and leaned against the stone basin for a moment to just soak.

"Oh wow, Azula, I didn't know fire bender's could do that." Suki said, running her hand over the surface of the now warm water.

"It's a simple trick really." Azula said, popping one eye open. "All I did was increase my body temperature and then exhale it all into the water."

"Sometimes I wish I could make water more than just lukewarm." Katara said.

"I've seen you melt ice before." Azula said, opening her other eye and turning to face Katara. "Can you not control the temperature of the water you bend?"

"No, just the pressure really. Ice is only ice when I'm water bending if it's held in place real close together. It gets colder on it's own, but not by much." Katara said, pulling a glob of water from the pool with her right hand, before solidifying it into ice, then tossing the crystalized water at Azula, who caught it. The ice wasn't as frigid as she expected it to be, and melted easily in her hand, as if it was hardly frozen.

"Strange." Azula said, letting the ice shard fall into the pool where it melted instantly. Wasting no more time, Azula took the bar of "soap" as Connor called it from her pile of things, which she began lathering her arms with.

Both Katara and Suki took notice that Azula was slowly becoming covered in the creamy white bubbles, and shared a glance with each other, before looking at Azula curiously. "What's that?" Suki asked.

"Oh, soap?" Azula asked, as she rubbed the bar against her chest, her free hand rubbing her shoulder.

"Something from Connor's people?" Katara asked, assuming from now on, that anything odd, he, Azula or Zuko presented to the group was alien in nature.

"You are correct." Azula smiled. "It's just lard, wood ash, and rain water, mashed up, compressed into a brick, then dried, but it's nearly a miracle how well it cleans away oil and dirt." She ran the bar over her legs while they were under water, before soaping her hand, and cleansing her mons discreetly through all the bubbles that surrounded her now.

"And you don't need a brush?" Katara asked, holding up the one beside her pile of laundry.

"Well, I'd prefer one to exfoliate with, but it's not needed." Azula said. "Here, try it." She held the bar of soap out to Katara, who took the slippery mass in hand, and raised an eyebrow.

"It's slimy." Katara then dipped the bar into the water, and found that the "slime" slid right off. "But it comes off in water… This is so weird." Katara said, eying the white clay-like brick.

"Strange, isn't it." Azula said, as Katara began scrubbing the laundry she had with her to remove dirt from the fabric at an incredible pace. "Like many of the things Connor has brought with him to our world from his own… And I think his people would think the same of us and our "things." Strange..." Azula paused, hands in her lap.

"Is he really an alien?" Suki asked, catching Azula and Katara's attention. "Sorry, just curious is all. He said something about being from another world when you captured me outside of Ba Sing Se, and I didn't believe him, but you keep saying "his people," and… He is quite strange looking."

Azula playfully rolled her eyes. "I suppose it sounds far-fetched, but it's the truth. He's from a distant land called America, a nation founded by pirates, drunkards, tax evaders, and outlaws."

"I still don't get how you two are a couple." Katara said.

"You two are what!?" Suki asked, eyes nearly popping out of her head. Azula smirked. "No." Suki said. Azula's smirk became a grin. "You and Connor? I mean, I figured you were friends maybe, but you two are like…" Suki leaned in. "Lovers?" She asked quietly. Azula bit her lower lip a little and blushed, sinking into the bath water.

"Is the sex good?" Katara asked, shocking both Azula and Suki.

"Never took you for the immodest type." Suki said.

"What? That's what you're really asking, and besides it's just sex." Katara shrugged.

"Is your openness in this matter some kind of tribal thing?" Azula asked. "At least when Connor and I talk about it, we use double meanings, or speak of the act in socially acceptable code." She said, as she began to rinse off the soap coating her arms.

Katara shrugged, as she continued scrubbing clothing. "I guess so. I got used to practicing some amount of privacy when I left home with Aang, since I didn't know how the rest of the world was, but in the village, we didn't really have problems surrounding sex. There's no doors, no separate rooms, you can try to be discreet, but everyone knows what's going on anyways. And I'm guessing, that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what I consider normal?" She asked Suki and Azula, before focusing specifically on Azula. "But yeah, sex. Is it really painful with a man the first time, or as pleasurable as when you…" Katara rolled her hand with the bar of soap in it. "Self gratify." She said, with an eye roll, using "acceptable code"

Azula chewed her tongue for a second as she came up with an answer. "I feel as if I didn't have a "normal" first time with Connor, as he was rather… Attentive beforehand. It burned a little, but not for more than a second or so, and beyond that, he was just so… Passionate." Azula exhaled and the slowly cooling bath water was once again rewarmed with her breath.

"I take it that means, it felt good?" Katara asked.

"Extremely." Azula said, before eyeing Suki. "So you and Sokka… I'm assuming that prison put a damper on your romantic life?"

"Actually." Suki blushed. "We haven't gotten that far yet." She turned to Katara. "And stop me if this makes you uncomfortable, but… Sokka and I were hoping that at some point soon we'd be able to, you know, now that we're together again. He wants there to be candles, and flowers." Suki sighed. "I don't know where he's going to get them, but it sounds so dreamy."

"That's… Kind of sweet, considering how little time you've had to spend together." Katara commented.

Feeling like tormenting her former foe, Azula smirked. "And what about you then Miss. Open Book. Is there anyone in particular you fancy? Perhaps, a tall, mustached, earth bender?"

"Haru?" Suki asked.

"I mean…" Katara blushed lightly. "I did have a crush on him a while ago, but I've gotten over it."

"Then maybe you prefer the softer, intellectual type? Teo?" Azula said.

"Alright, now you're just being a pain." Katara said, splashing a little water at Azula. "Teo's nice, but I hardly know him… There was someone I used to like… But he's gone now…" Katara said, looking away from her work for a moment, before taking her pants out of the water, and bending away the moisture, placing the now dry garment behind her on the floor. "I guess I'm just not ready for a relationship at the moment. I can't imagine how hard it has to be for you two, dating in the middle of the war."

"It's not so bad… Sokka and I've made it work." Suki said.

Azula meanwhile, had wet her hair by dipping it sideways into the bath, before sitting up. "I concur. What struggles Connor and I might be presented with are nothing either of us can't handle on our own, let alone together. Honestly the most difficult part was when we needed to hide it… Interracial relationships with a citizen of the Earth Kingdom, or Water tribe were already all but forbidden by law, so I can't imagine the public outcry there would have been if it was known Connor and I were together." She said, before taking her comb, and beginning the lengthy process of running it through all her long raven locks.

With nothing more to say, the minutes passed by. Azula combed the knots from her hair, Katara continued her laundry, while Suki was content to enjoy the now cooling water. Once finished combing her hair, Azula spent the next thirty minutes or so with a simple razor, removing what body hair she'd grown after nearly a week without any real personal grooming. Her arms and legs now free of unwanted follicles, and the soap around Azula having been pulled away, flowing slowly out of the tub, Azula stepped out to dry, a task easily accomplished by simply raising her body temperature to evaporate the water clinging to her.

"You're not going to stay and soak for a little while?" Suki asked.

Azula shrugged, as she began putting on her change of socks and undergarments, forgoing the rebinding of her breasts with the sarashi. "I didn't come here to relax, just clean myself." She said, tying her hair back into a messy high tail.

"Do you want this back?" Katara asked, holding up the soap to Azula.

"No, you can keep it." Azula said, pulling a pair of baggy brown pants up, tucking the burgundy long sleeve tunic into the waistline. "Connor has more…" Azula threw a red cloth belt around her abdomen to help hold the garments in place. "Just consider it a contribution to the laundry chore." She put her boots on, then picked up her dirty clothing preparing to leave, before pausing and smiling lightly at the two girls still in the bath. "I enjoyed the company."

"And I enjoyed the hot water." Katara said, smiling in return.

In South Chuli, Aang and Sokka slipped through the streets undisturbed. What few soldiers were milling about in town hadn't taken any notice of the two as they continued along their way. Seemingly the seaside town had experienced a fair amount of cultural blending as a result of the occupation, with Fire Nation clothing, money, architecture, and goods being somewhat common. While the two came across a vast assortment of vendors selling fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, and dairy products, Sokka knew the produce would last no longer than a few days. Deciding it best, he and Aang went further south through the city to find a shop that had preserved foods available in bulk.

After traveling further south, preemptively spending a little of Connor's donated money to acquire a small wagon, the two had managed to find a locality selling shelf stable food, namely beans, rice, dry fruit, nuts, and smoked meat. Purchasing everything they could reasonably afford and could carry in the small cart, the two started to make their return trip through town back towards Appa, only to be stopped dead in their tracks. A parade formation of soldiers marched up the street, about two thirds of the men carrying muskets, the others being fire benders, or officers with pistols strapped to their belts above a sword.

"MAKE WAY!" The commander ahead of the parade shouted, before Aang and Sokka stepped off of the street and into an alley, many of the other townsfolk doing much the same.

Waiting in place, the two watched as the soldiers passed by, before the formation was called to a halt. Not long after, the soldiers were dispersed into groups of four, and they began grabbing citizens, seemingly at random, shoving them down the street. "What's going on?" Aang asked.

"I don't know, but I don't want to stick around to find out. Let's get back to Appa." Sokka said, as the two ducked further down the ally, avoiding the attention of the soldiers.

As they continued moving north through the streets, Aang watched as more and more people were grabbed by soldiers, some being chased down the road. Doors were beat on by uniformed men. Some doors were simply kicked in, and the occupants dragged out screaming. "It's like they're trying to arrest the whole town." Aang said.

Looking around, Sokka noticed the people being rounded up, then glanced at his and Aang's disguises, coming to a swift conclusion. "No, they're just taking the people of Earth Kingdom descent."

"What?!" Aang asked. "Why?"

"A few reasons come to mind." Sokka said grimmly. "They're probably forcing them deeper inland so that people from theFire Nation can start living in the town."

"We have to do something." Aang said, about ready to take off his red robe in anger, and go fight every soldier he saw. "These people have every right to live here, and-"

"Aang." Sokka said, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I know that it's hard to watch, but we're not in a position to do anything right now."

"Then when should we?" Aang asked. "How should we?"

"If we're thinking long term? Defeating the Fire Lord…" Sokka said, causing Aang to close his eyes and lower his head towards the ground. "But I got a few ideas for what we can do in about an hour." Sokka said, as Aang looked over his shoulder at Sokka, who grew a grin.

After they loaded all the food onto Appa's saddle, the two friends made their way back through town. Sneaking into the Fire Nation base on the south side was almost too easy. While Aang could not bend the metal plating of the fort, the ground on either side of the wall was easy enough for an Earth Bender to tunnel through. Ducking past guards, and finding concealment behind barrels and crates, the two made their way to the oldest Fire Nation Cruiser moored in the base's port, a pre-gunpowder cruiser that had been modified to accommodate cannons below deck.

They climbed aboard with the assistance of a water spout. Creeping into the bowels of the mostly vacant ship unnoticed, Sokka found the scuttling seacock valves, and grinned as he pulled them open, allowing water to flood the compartment. Taking the valve head with them, so the flooding could not be stopped, Sokka and Aang exited the ship through the lowest starboard side gun deck, crawling out of a gunport, jumping onto the anchor of the ship beside them, a slightly smaller Lightning class light cruiser. Climbing up to the main deck, Sokka and Aang quickly ran along the starboard side, slicing through the ship's mooring lines with blades of water, and Sokka's sword. Sliding down the last rope, landing on the dock, then cutting the line, the two started running down the pier, away from the ship as it drifted out of port, before a shout came from the fortress wall. "ALARM! WE HAVE INTRUDERS IN THE YARD!"

As the duo reached the third ship they planned on tampering with, the fortress's bells had started ringing. They ran up the gangplank, and onto the smallest ship of the fleet, a Hanyang class corvette, where the two were met with several members of the crew who were aboard. Sokka, with sword drawn, addressed the mostly unarmed crew. "Alright everyone, we're taking this ship." He said, before getting a laugh out of one of the crew near the back.

"With that?" The laughing man said as he approached. He was nearly two heads taller than Sokka, and far wider too, a flame in his hand.

To retort, Sokka cocked the flint lock of the pistol embedded in his blade, and pointed it at the man. "Yes." He grinned, as Aang created a small fire in his palm to intimidate the seven men. In a calm and orderly fashion, (See: running away to avoid being shot or burned,) the crew abandoned ship, as Aang and Sokka cut mooring lines once again. The small ship, beginning to drift away from the dock.

Scurrying around the ship, Aang fired the coal engines, before returning topside to take the wheel where Sokka got his bearings. The two paused briefly, as they saw a mass of soldiers and sailors boarding the second smallest and newest ship in the yard, a Falcondor class frigate, preparing to give chase. "Get us out of here Aang." Sokka said, allowing his friend to take the wheel, and steer the ship, while he made a mad dash for the ship's swivel gun nest on the rear quarter deck, where six small cannons sat waiting for him.

As the men on the docks began firing on the corvette with their muskets, Sokka loaded the nearest cannon, and took aim at the men boarding the frigate, before a better target came to mind. Shifting the swivel gun's muzzle away from the men, Sokka pointed up to the lighthouse, loaded with oil, and touched off the cannon with a burning match.

With a boom, the nearly three pound ball rocketed through the air, before making impact with the lighthouse just above it's lantern. The oil reservoir, ripped open by the round shot, poured out and down the lighthouse, before the flammable liquid made contact with a torch mounted at the front door. The oil ignited, and the flames raced up the lighthouse wall, before the reservoir caught. The building blew it's top, sending flaming oil and bits of stone and metal all across the naval yard, before the remains of the structure buckled under it's own weight. The tower listed to one side, and fell onto the aft end of the frigate, causing the entire ship to seesaw, sending sailors and soldiers flying for a moment.

"WOOO!" Sokka shouted, as he jumped up and down. "Did you see that?!" He shouted up to Aang, before making his way up to the wheel.

"Great shot Sokka. What now?" Aang asked, as his friend took the helm from him.

"Now we get the heck out of here." Sokka said, before spinning the wheel hard to starboard, taking them north.

Shortly after escaping the port, the two ran their stolen ship aground north of the town, and took off on foot back to Appa, retreating to the safety of the Western Air Temple.

It was just past dusk. Kozato sat in his temporary cabin aboard the new airship he'd requested only a day ago. Every shred of information about the Avatar he could gather was laid out on the map table, taking the form of notes he would otherwise keep mental, only ever writing them down to organize his thoughts.

Locating his cousins and The Avatar when they had the mobility air power provided became difficult. A day's head start made the chase go from the length of a few grid squares, to that of an ocean. It was for that reason Kozato thought better than to simply exhaust himself searching every place that the three could be, and instead find out where they were mathematically most likely to be.

From Caldera, The Avatar's bison, the former royal siblings and their pet, as well as the traitor Ty Lee had all fleed, traveling at a heading of thirty five degrees, a straight shot to the Western Air Temple. While it would be logical to simply follow that trajectory from day one, the possibility of the air temple providing a safe haven for Kozato's prey being likely, it was not the only ruin the Fire Nation had no interest in at the moment. They could have easily skewed their course westwards and gone to the crumbling abandoned civilisations of the Sun islands, or further east, towards the more distant Fire Islands, or colonies where they no doubt would be able to vanish among the population.

The escape at The Boiling Rock, in which Kozato had allowed, provided another bearing for Kozato to follow, of thirty degrees from the island, which intersected the original thirty five degree line of travel just offshore of the island that the Western Air Temple was located on, but was not definitive proof that all three of his wanted persons occupied it. Again, the possibility of Azula and Zuko kicking west or east still remained, though removed the eastern Fire Islands from the equation.

The last piece of the puzzle, a third and final bearing needed to confirm to Kozato where The Avatar and his allies might be, was delivered by messenger hawk over an hour ago. There was a report of an attack at a naval yard in South Chuli, and not long after The Avatar's bison was seen flying west by north west, at a heading of two hundred eighty five degrees from the town. The line drawn (figuratively) from the position of the report, intersected the original thirty five degree bearing directly over the air temple.

Eliminating all doubt, Kozato burned his notes for operational security, and made his way to the bridge. Opening the door, he was greeted by the lieutenant at the acoustic communications board. "Attention on deck!" The Lieutenant said.

"As you were." Kozato said, approaching the helmsman, Mai standing beside him, gazing out the glass forward window. "Helmsman, you've got a new heading. Due north, and full speed ahead."

"Yes, sir." The helmsman said, the conversation catching Mai's attention.

"Are you going to tell me what exactly we're doing now, or are you just going to keep quiet about it like you did back in my uncle's prison?" Mai asked, not bothering to face Kozato.

Kozato eyed her in the glass's reflection for a moment, then looked down his nose. "Is your trust in me wavering Lady Mai?" He asked.

Mai turned around. "I haven't known you long enough to build any."

"Then instead of trust, have loyalty." He said. "I'm due to become the next hair to the throne, and some amount of allegiance to your country should prevent you from going against my orders."

"I can still follow orders that I question heavily." Mai countered. "But I believe I'm owed some reciprocated information. Where are we going, and what is it you have planned?"

Kozato opened his mouth to speak, before closing it, glancing out the window at the moon for a moment, taking note that it was in the midst of a waxing gibbous. "I'll tell you what you wish to know, but I need to be certain of something first… How do you feel about the people we're hunting?"

Mai's nose almost scrunched for a second. "Well for starters, I hate Azula, and now that she's public enemy number one alongside The Avatar and Zuko, I can't wait to slit the bitch's throat."

"I was under the impression you were friends once?" Kozato questioned.

"She wasn't a friend, she was a parasite I couldn't get rid of. I was only ever friends with Ty Lee." Mai said, crossing her arms.

"And Zuko, your former suitor?" Kozato asked.

"He ripped out my heart when he left me. Wouldn't you want to return the favor if someone you loved did that to you?" Mai asked in return.

"I find simply stopping the heart to be sufficient, but I understand the sentiment." Kozato nodded once. "Of course the leaves the monster that Azula and Zuko took with them, but I can't imagine you hold any sentiment for it."

"Frankly, I don't hate him as a person…" Mai shrugged. "... But he is a stone chucking ogre, so he'll be purged with the rest of them eventually."

Kozato raised an eyebrow, and nodded. "Well, if that's the case… I've managed to triangulate the most likely location of The Avatar, and his followers, to include Zuko and Azula. The Western Air Temple, of course, I had my reasonable suspicions they were there from day one."

"Then why didn't you just go there to begin with, why wait?" Mai asked. "You didn't even need to bring me along."

"Oh quite the contrary, Mai." Kozato said, stepping closer into her personal space, less than an arm's length away. "I needed you before I'd even begun my search. The information you provided me with has and will be instrumental to my victory."

"Then why did you waste time waiting in Caldera?" Mai asked, narrowing her eyes as Kozato leaned in, looking down at her.

"Timing is everything, dearest Mai…" He said, before mai drew a knife from her sleeve, and held it against Kozato's cheek.

"Keep the creepy comments to yourself. I'm not interested in being someone's sloppy seconds." Mai said sharply, before putting away her knife.

Kozato exhaled, before pulling away from Mai, a bead of blood running down his face from the small cut left in it. "I suspected as much, but as I said, timing… Despite being at my physical peak, I've never been good at traditional firebending. I'm not exceptionally powerful, or technically adept, save from my proficiency of the Qiu Hu forms, and as such I can not reasonably expect to put up a winning fight against any of the members of The Avatar's company with bending alone, save Zuko, or Azula without her using lighting, hence why I desperately needed this…" Kozato patted the six shot gun on his hip. "... And the suit of armor I'd commissioned. Waiting for them to be made is vital to overcoming our opposition."

"And now that you have it, you're safe from most of them. The Tribesman's sword, his savage sister's ice and water, thrown stones from the ogre, fire from Zuko or Azula, and as it seems her lightning. That also covers everything The Avatar could hit you with... It's too bad that it won't save you from the little dirt girl's ability to bend metal."

Kozato grinned to himself. "Assuming she can touch me first."

"And being shot?" Mai asked, an eyebrow raised. "They have a lot of guns now."

"I assure you, I wouldn't encumber myself and my men with armor if I didn't believe it was up to the challenges of modern combat…" Kozato said, still smiling to himself, before stepping back a pace. "We'll arrive at the Western Air Temple just before dawn. The perfect time to attack. Tui will be going down, Agni will not have risen to his apex, leveling the playing field between water and fire both as we grow closer to summer's end. The occupants of the temple will be asleep still, and if they have risen early they will be groggy, undressed, and uncoordinated. If there is a guard rotation set to wake them, the last shift will be the one most tiring… I expect you to be well rested, and alert by the time we arrive." Kozato said.

"Yeah, I get it, it's past my bedtime." Mai said with an eye roll, before she left the bridge, feeling Kozato's eyes on her as she departed. Once out of his line of sight, she shivered in disgust.

AN:

An original chapter? Why yes of course. Connor's taking a backseat still, but he has his small supporting moments. Azula is getting along with her former foes swimmingly. Aang and Sokka get to go out and kick a little ass, (though to their own folly) and Kozato gets more screen time with Mai. (Her villain arc is so fun to write.)

It's a staple of Anime that there will be at least one bath house or hot spring episode, and this is it, this is what you're getting. Three girls just being friends at an arms distance, talking about soap, strange cultural nuances, and their romantic lives... Pretty normal teenage girl stuff... That and I wanted a reason for Azula to change her wardrobe up.

On the more serious side of things, with the whole Fire Nation plan of genocide that's supposed to be happening in, oh two weeks, does anyone want to guess where those people of Earth Kingdom decent in the colonies and occupied territories are going?

...

For those of you who don't know how Kozato could have survived a proper bolt of lightning from Azula last chapter, I'll clue you in.

His suit of armor is completely enclosed, with a layer of chainmail (existed since the time of Kyoshi) and padding beneath it, meaning that all of the steel is contacting other steel, acting like a faraday suit. Technically this is a bug not a feature as he nor the rest of the world knows much about electricity at this point, but he knows that "it just works."

The suit was designed to make him a juggernaut. It's capable of protecting against basically any kind of blade, the padding softens blows from blunt attacks like clubs, rocks or streams of water, and insulates from the heat of a fire blast. Air isn't going to do much to it, and as far as he knows from evidence left by the invasion, Toph needs to touch metal to bend it.

The only thing left in question is, can it stop a bullet?